“Step by Step He Leads Me”

09Jan

Dear Brethren,

We wanted to bring you all up-to-date concerning circumstances involving Nancy and myself. This past year we have been seeking the Lord for His direction concerning what it is that He would have us to do and where it is that He would have us to be. Through a series of events, the Lord has been so very gracious and kind to lead us each step of the way. This present moment is not something that has been spontaneous or a reactionary decision, but it is a decision that goes back to its beginning in July 2008 when a word from God came to Nancy and me that we were to go with a particular message into many different parts of the world. It is a message that declares, in many respects, the coming of Jesus Christ. As we have worked diligently to fulfill the burden of that word that the Lord has given, God has been and is expanding the vision, as well as the scope of what it is that would eventually determine the circumstances that we find ourselves in today.

At the beginning of this last year the Lord put it upon our hearts to begin thinking about the possibility of moving out of our house. As we began to meditate and pray concerning it, it became more and more evident to us that it was indeed what the Lord was saying to us. It was at that point that we said to the Lord that He would need to give us a direct word. It needed to be a word concerning this particular road that He was evidently laying out before us; a word that would have the power to minister that peace and give us the assurance, the release, to give up our house and move with the Lord. It was during this past July 4th conference that God gave us that word through Brother Campbell who used the exact wording that I had spoken to God in my times of prayer and meditation. We knew from that point that the mission of moving from our existing house was on go. It, however, did not become reality till this past November, December. Nancy and I had just returned from Europe the first part of November and we were immediately involved with conferences, traveling both to Dubuque, IA, as well as Schuyler, NE. So, unfortunately that did not leave us much time to pack and organize for a move that particular month. I might add here that we were scheduled to travel to Ethiopia on the 31st of December and arriving in Addis Ababa on the 1st of January. Needless to say, the pressure was on. It is very difficult to determine what to pack and what to put into storage after being in one place for seventeen years! This has been as the song says, “Step by Step He leads me”; the conclusion to that is that “I will follow Him all of my days”. It is in our hearts to follow Him as He leads and confirms to us His will for our lives.

I have to say that it was a big push for us to get it accomplished; a very big push. You do not often know the limitations that come from growing older… not until you are put into a situation that wants to push you mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We had to deal with all four levels of that limitation on many different occasions, and often at the same time. You know if you could just put life as it is around you on hold for the short space of time, in these trying times of extreme pressure it would help immensely, but unfortunately that is too often not the case as it was in ours. So having to deal with the move and with life around us, and those responsibilities of ministry, life and coping with it was often times at a critical point. I am encouraged to know that as hard and as pressured as it may seem and as pressed as I may be in the spirit, I have yet to achieve the level that is spoken about by Paul. II Corinthians 11:26, In journeying’s often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. This is a level of that high calling that I want to attain. If one desires to be in that level of fellowship with God, there has to be a revelation, there has to be that reality of God that will give one the confidence that in spite of the circumstances God is a greater reality. It is that reality that I want for me and my house.

One just does not know the ‘stuff’ that one has until they begin to pull it out of the cracks and crannies where it was all stored. I found so many things that I thought that I had lost and now instead of having just one, I may have two or even three and I now have to decide what to do with them. It is amazing how often I found myself repenting; there was however, something in the spirit the Lord was saying to Nancy and me. There were so many things in the natural that happened to us that can have a spiritual emphasis; as the scripture says, be a Word from God that is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. I personally want to cultivate that hearing hear and that seeing eye that we might not miss those opportunities. I do not want it to be said of me that I did not hear, I did not see, I did not obey.

I need to say here that by the Grace of a Living God, we succeeded in what to me seemed to be an impossible task to accomplish in the time frame given to us to do what needed to be done. I also want to thank the many of you that helped us in the different ways to facilitate the move through trucks, cars, and bodies. The willingness to do and to give of your time was extremely helpful and a very, very great blessing to Nancy and myself.

Since we would be flying out of Indianapolis the afternoon of the 31st, we had decided to travel to Indianapolis the afternoon of the 30th that we might be able to have a ‘little’ rest. Well, the poet said as he was plowing his field and he inadvertently plowed over the house of a small field mouse, “the plans of mice and men oft go awry.” As we walked out of the door of the house that we had been living in for the past sixteen plus years, a house that had seen much in the way of life and living, a house where many from different places in and around the world had come to stay and live for a season, the clock said half past six; so much for a chance of being able to have a bit of time to rest. In the Jewish economy the new day begins at 6 o’clock in the evening. There was something very prophetic about it. A door, or better said a chapter of our progression, our journey into God. As the Prophetic Word that was given to us, a road was now open and stretching out before us and the opportunities to see the moving of God in our circumstances are limitless.

2 responses to ““Step by Step He Leads Me””

Thank you Burt and Nancy for sharing this wonderful testimony of God’s direction in your lives.
We stand with you in your new endeavors and look forward to the next report.
Could not help but chuckle about the accumulation of stuff…I could/can so relate.
I best get back to cleaning out some closets….
Multiple blessings upon you for your obedience,
Susan